Four flap opener



June 10, 1969 J. J. SHUTTLEWORTH FOUR FLAP OPENER Filed July 29, 1966.Juhe 0, 1969 'J. J. SHUTTLEWORTH 3,448,560

FOUR FLAP OPENER Filed July 29, 1966 Sheet June 10, 1969 J. J.SHUTTLEWORTH I 3,448,560

FOUR FLAP QPBNER Filed July 29, 1966 Sheet '3 or 3 H2\ Fig. 5.

MNTOR James J. SHIJI'IZEWORTN A'r'farznn s United States Patent M US.Cl. 53-382 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present inventionrelates to a flap opener particularly adapted for opening the four flapsof a box prior to packing cans, bottles or the like in the box.

In commercially available case packers such as, for example, the casepacker disclosed in my copending application Ser; No. 514,205, it isparticularly desirable to have the four flaps of a box to be packed inopen condition when the box moves into the case packer. If the flaps arenot properly and completely open, breakdown and jamming of the casepacker can result. It is, therefore, an object of this invention toprovide an apparatus for opening box flaps.

The boxes which are packed by case packers are, in most cases,rectangular in horizontal cross section. Thus, in most cases, the boxincludes a pair of short flaps and a pair of long flaps. That is, thelong flaps are connected to the long sides of the rectangular box andthe short flaps are connected to the short sides of the box. Inpractically all cases the box arrives at the case packer for packingwith its short flaps down or inside of the long flaps. Usually the flapsare to some extent open. In some cases, however, the flaps may be almostentirely closed and the long flaps may be inside of the short flaps. Itis therefore a further object of the invention to provide a flap openerwhich consistently and reliably opens all of the flaps of a box to fullyopen condition no matter what the initial condition or position of theflaps,

Related objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds.

One embodiment of the present invention might include a flap opener fora box having four flaps comprising a first conveyor adapted to moveboxes longitudinally thereof, a support arranged at right angles to thelength of said first conveyor for receiving boxes which have moved offof said first conveyor, means for opening a first flap of the four flapsof a box moving on said conveyor, said first flap being attached to saidbox transversely of said box relative to the direction of movement ofsaid box on said conveyor and in the direction of said support, meansfor moving said box in a path transversely of said conveyor and ontosaid support with said first flap leading, and flap guide means fixed tosaid frame and positioned over said support and arranged to plow intoand to maintain open said second, third and fourth flaps as said boxmoves onto said support.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flap opener embodying the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective detail view of a flap guide forming apart of the construction of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1 in thedirection of the arrows.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conveyor support forming a part of thestructure illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation taken along the line 55 of FIG. 1in the direction of the arrows.

3,448,560 Patented June 10, 1969 FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan viewof a portion of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of a box pusher forming a part of thestructure illustrated in FIG. 1.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated inthe drawing and specific language will be used to describe the same. Itwill nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended, such alterations and furthermodifications in the illustrated device, and such further applicationsof the principles of the invention as illustrated therein beingcontemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to whichthe invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated aflap opener 10 which includes a first conveyor 11 having conveyor belts12 mounted thereon and driven in such direction as to cause the upperportions of the belts 12 to move in the direction of the arrows 13. Theconveyor 11 is mounted upon a frame 15, best shown in FIG. 4. The frame15 includes four posts 16 upon which are mounted horizontal members 17and upright members 20. Rotatably mounted in the upright members 20 arethreaded shafts 21 which extend through suitable threaded apertures inconveyor support members 22.

At the lower ends of the threaded shafts 21 there are fixedly mountedsprockets 25 around which extends a chain 27. The shafts 21 are causedto rotate by a suitable motor driving a further sprocket 27 fixed to oneof the shafts 21. When the further sprocket 27 is caused to rotate andthe one shaft 21 is caused to rotate, all of the shafts 21 rotate anequal amount by reason of the connection of the shafts through the chain26. Such rotation of the various shafts 21 causes the conveyor supports22 to either be raised or to be lowered to adjust the position of theconveyor 11 which rests upon the supports 22.

As mentioned, posts 16 and the horizontal bars 17 form a part of a frame15. Fixedly mounted upon the frame 15 are kicker ar-m assemblies 31 and32. The kicker arm assembly 31 is representative of the two kicker armassemblies and is shown in detail in FIG. 3. The assembly 31 includes anoverhead cantilever mounted housing 35 within which is pivoted a fluidcylinder 36, said cylinder being swingably supported on the housingabout the axis 34. The fluid cylinder 36 has a piston rod 37 which ispivotally secured to a connecting rod 40*.

The connecting rod 40 is swingably mounted at its upper end to thehousing 35 and has a kicker arm 41 pivotally secured to its lower end.As is best shown in FIG. 1 for both the kicker arm assembly 31 and theassembly 32, each connecting rod 40 has a horizontal member 42 fixedthereto at the distal end of which is mounted a block 45 which has alimit 46 secured thereto. Each rkieker arm 41 is mounted in a block 47which is normally held in engagement with the limit 46 by means of atension spring 50, one end of which is fixed to the block 45 by means ofa bolt 51 and the other end of which is fixed to the block 47 by meansof the bolt 52.

The fluid cylinder 36 operates to project and retract its piston rod 37so as tomove the kicker arm 41 between the solid line position of FIG. 3and the dotted line position thereof. The kicker arm 41 is caused tomove from the solid line position to the dotted line position each timeone of the boxes 55 moves to a position on the conveyr belts 12 whereinthe kicker arm 41 is aligned with the center of the one box. Thus, whenthe arm 41 is moved to the dotted line position of FIG. 3, the arm 41moves between the two longer flaps 56 of the box.

As the arm 41 moves downwardly from the solid line position to thedotted line position, it is free to swing up to move over the shorterflap 57. This upswing is perrnitted by the arm 41 pivoting upwardlyrelative to the connecting rod 40 through the yieldable extension of thespring 50. Once the arm 41 has moved over the shorter flap 57 and hasreached the dotted line position of FIG. 3, it is immediately returnedto the solid line position by the cylinder 31. In this movement the arm41 takes the flap 57 from the dotted line position 57A to the dottedline position 57B. T=he flap, of course, tends to return to the dottedline position 57A but is prevented from doing so by the leg 60 of ahinge 61. The hinge 61 forms a part of a flap guide 62. The flap guide62 is best shown in FIG. 2.

A. pair of the flap guides 62 and 63 are provided, one on each side ofthe conveyor, for use with the respective kicker arm assemblies 31 and32. The two flap guides 62 and 63 are generally the same except that theilap guide 62 has a guide rod 65 which is somewhat longer than the guiderod 66 of the flap guide 63. In view of the fact that the flap guide 62and the flap guide 63 are constructed and operate in generally the samefashion, the flap guide 62 will be described as representative.

.The hinge 61 of FIG. 2 includes the leg 60 and a further leg 70 whichis fixedly mounted upon a horizontal support member 71. The horizontalsupport member 71 is fixed to the frame so that even though the conveyor11 is adjusted vertically by rotation of the threaded rods 21, the flapguide 62 retains its same vertical position. Fixed to the horizontalmember 71 by means of a mounting member 72 is a bolt 75 which functionsas a limit for the leg 60.

Acting between the leg 60 and the leg 70 of the hinge 61 is a coiledspring 76 which resiliently maintains the leg 60 in engagement with thelimit member 75. The leg 60 of the hinge 61 is swingable by the forcingaction of the flap 57 toward and against the leg 70 but normally retainsthe illustrated position by reason of the resilient action of the spring76. It can be appreciated, therefore, that when the kicker arm 41 rnovesfrom the dotted line position to the solid line position of FIG. 3, theflap 57 will be forced past the leg 60 which will immediately springback to the position illustrated in FIG. 2 so that when the flap 57tends to move backwardly toward the dotted line position 57A of FIG. 3,the leg 60 will block the flap 57 and prevent its returning to theposition 57A and will maintain the flap in the solid line position ofFIG. 3.

After this action has occurred, the box 55 continues to move in thedirection of the arrows 13 along the conveyor. The flap 57 is thenpicked up by the guide rod 65 which, as illustrated in FIG. 2, ismounted on the support member 71 by a further support member 77 and by ablock 80 which permiits adjustment of the, angle of the guide rod 65 byadjustment of the bolt 81 connecting the block 80 and the member 77. Theposition of the guide rod 65 may also be adjusted by use of the slots 82and 85 which receive a bolt 86 securing the member 77 to the member 71.

It should be mentioned that the boxes 55 are maintained in properposition transversely of the conveyer 11 by means of a box guide rail 90and a box guide member 91. The box guide member 91 is fixed to theconveyor 11 and, thus, is not adjustable for diiferent sized boxes. Theguide rail 90, however, is mounted on the conveyor 11 bymeans ofperpendicular members 97 secured to the rail 90 and by means of thumbscrews 92 which are threaded into box-shaped mounting elements 95mounted on brackets 94 fixed to the conveyor 11. It can be appreciated,therefore, that the guide rail 90 can be adjusted to provide fordifferent sized boxes 55.

As mentioned, the kicker arm assembly 32 is constructed and operates inthe same fashion as the kicker arm assembly 31. The kicker arm assembly32 is positioned and operated at a suitable time so that, similarly tothe kicker arm assembly 31, the kicker arm moves down into the boxprecisely at the center of the box so that the kicker arm is notprevented from entering the box by either of the longer flaps 56.andinstead moves between the two flaps 56 of the individual box. After bothof the kicker arms 41 have operated upon the box, both of the flaps 57and 100 (FIG. 3) are moved to an open position and are maintained inthat open position by the flap guides 61 and 62 and their guide rods 65and 66. As mentioned, in practically all cases, the boxes 55 arrive atthe case packer with the shorter flaps 57 and 100 down or beneath thelonger flaps. For this reason, the raising of the shorter fiaps, 57 and100 also causes the longer flaps 56 to 'be raised to the verticalposition illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3 for the boxes on the conveyor 11.Even if the long flaps 56 are down, the rubbing of the kicker arms 41against their distal edges tends to cause the long flaps 56 to be raisedto a certain extent. Thus, as the boxes 55 move toward the end of theconveyor 11, the flaps 57 and 100 are completely opened and the flaps 56are either upright or opened to a certain extent.

The boxes 55 are then cause to move at right angles to the conveyor 11by means of a pusher mechanism 110 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 7. Thepusher mechanism 110 operates to move the boxes off of the conveyor 11and onto a further support or conveyor 111 which is arranged at rightangles to the length of the conveyor 11. In FIG. 1 a portion of a casepacker 112 is illustrated. This case packer 112 is identical to the casepacker illustrated in my copending application Ser. No. 514,205. In thatapplication there is provided a flap guide member which in the presentapplication is numbered 85' for clarity. The guide member 85 in mycopending application is a part of a means for maintaining the flap inan open outwardly extending position as the box is packed wtih objectsby the case packer. The case packer 112 includes a conveyor which picksup the box 55 as it is moved into the case packer 112 by the pushermechanism and conveys the box through the case packer for packing. Thisconveyor of the case packer 112 moves the boxes in a parallel directionto the arrows 13. Thus, it can be appreciated that the action of thepresent four flap opener when used in combination with the case packer112 is to move the boxes first in one direction, then to move them at 90to the original direction, and lastly to have the conveyor of the casepacker 112 pick up the boxes for further movement in the first directionbut in a parallel path to the initial path of the boxes.

In order that the box 55 be properly prepared for packing by the casepacker 112, it is necessary that the long flap 56 which leads the box inthe case packer be overbent, that is, be bent downwardly beyond ahorizontal position with a sufiicient amount of overbending so that thelead flaps 56 will retain a downwardly projecting position as the box 55is moved through the case packer 112. This is necessary because theremay not be a device in the case packer for keeping the lead flap 56down. The two flaps 57 and 100, on the other hand, are picked up bysuitable guide apparatus more fully described in my copendingapplication and are maintained in a horizontal position. The flap 56,which is the following flap in the case packer, does not need to beoverbent but does need to be opened and projecting outside of the box sothat the funnel of the case packer is not obstructed by the followingflap 56.

In order to produce these various positions of the flaps, there isprovided a further flap guide means 200 best shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6.The further flap guide means 200 includes three rods 201, 202 and 203.The rod 201 operates upon the lead flap 56 and, consequently, is soformed as to overbend this lead flap. As mentioned above, the flaps 56are opened to a certain extent when they are pushed onto the conveyor111 by the pusher 110. The distal end 205 of 'the guide rod 201- '5 ispositioned sufliciently low so that, as the box 55 moves onto thesupport 111, the guide rod 201 will be below the lead flap 56. All threeof the guide rods 201, 202 and 203 slope downwardly from their distalends to their proximal ends.

The proximal end of the guide rod 201, however, is located substantiallybelow the proximal ends of the guide rods 202 and 203 so that the leadflap 56 is substantially overbent. As illustrated in FIG. 5, theproximal end 206 of the guide rod 201 is located well below the upperedges of the sides of the box 55. The proximal ends 207 and 208 of theguide rods 202 and 203, respectively, however, are located at the sameheight as the upper edges of the sides of the box 55 so that the flaps57 and 100 and the following flap 56 are caused to assume a horizontallyextending position by the time they enter into the case packer 112. Itwill be noted that the guide rod 202 extends on past its mounting on themember 210' of the case packer 112 to insure that the flap 57 isproperly guided into the case packer guide means 80 and 82 of mycopending application.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is illustrated in detail the pusher mechanism110. This pusher mechanism includes a fluid cylinder 250 which has apiston rod 251 pivotally secured to a lever 252 having a roller 255rotatably mounted thereon. The lever 252 is pivoted at 256 so that thelever can swing between the solid line position and the dotted lineposition of FIG. 7. The solid line position of .FIG. 7 is the positionillustrated in FIG. 1 wherein the pusher pad 260' is projected and thebox 55 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 1 on the conveyor 111. Thepusher pad 260 is mounted upon a J-shaped member 261 which has anupright bearing member 262 secured thereto. The lever 252 and the fluidcylinder 250 are each pivotally mounted upon a frame 270 which hasmounted thereon rollers 271 and 272 which guide the l-shaped member 261through its path of projecting and retracting the pusher pad 260.

The pusher pad 260 includes an extension 275 which tapers in a directionopposite to the direction of movement 13 of the conveyor and whichtapers away from the direction of extension of the second conveyor 111.The purpose of the extension 275 is to back up the boxes which arefollowing the box being pushed by pusher pad 260 to insure that thefollowing boxes do not provide an obstruction which would twist thefollowing flap 56 of the box being pushed onto the conveyor 111. It canbe appreciated that the guide rod 203 will guide the following flap 56downwardly. If the flaps of the following boxes are in the way, thiscould produce a twisting action which is avoided by the extension 275.

It should also be mentioned that the kicker arms are timed to operate atthe same time that the pusher pad 260 pushes. This insures that theboxes upon which the kicker arms are operating are stationary orrelatively stationary while the kicker arms are operating.

It will be evident from the above description that this inventionprovides a device for opening the four flaps of a box. It will also beevident that the present invention provides a flap opener whichconsistently and reliably opens all of the flaps of a box to fully opencondition no matter what the initial condition or position of the fla s.

l Nhile the invention has been illustrated and described in detail inthe drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood thatonly the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that allchanges and modifications that come within the spirit of the inventionand the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

I claim:

1. A flap opener for a box having four flaps comprising a first conveyoradapted to move boxes longitudinally thereof, a support arranged atright angles to the length of said first conveyor at one side thereoffor receiving boxes which have moved off of said first conveyor, meansfor opening a first flap of the four flaps of a box moving on saidconveyor, said first flap being hinged to said box with the hinge axisparallel to the direction of movement of said box on said conveyor, saidfirst flap being on the edge of said box at said one side of saidconveyor, said means for opening a first flap comprising an armpositloned over said conveyor, means for projecting said arm into thebox moving on said conveyor and for moving said arm transversely of saidconveyor and out of the box to open the first flap of the four flaps ofthe box, means for moving said box in a path transversely of saidconveyor and onto said support with said first flap leading, and flapguide means fixed to said frame and positioned over said support andarranged to plow into and to maintam open said second, third and fourthflaps as said box moves onto said support.

2 A flap opener for a box having four flaps comprising a first conveyoradapted to move boxes longitudinally thereof, a support arranged atright angles to the length of said first conveyor for receiving boxeswhich have moved off of said first conveyor, a pair of arms positionedover said conveyor, means for projecting one of sard arms into a boxmoving on said conveyor and for movlng said one arm transversely of saidconveyor and out of said box to open a first flap of the four flaps ofsaid box, a first flap guide adapted to receive said first flap andmaintain it open as said box moves on said first conveyor, means forprojecting the other of said arms into the box on said conveyor and formoving said other arm transversely of said conveyor and out of said boxto open a second flap of the four flaps of said box, a second flap guideadapted to receive said second flap and maintam it open as said boxmoves on said first conveyor, means for moving the box in a pathtransversely off the conveyor onto said support, and further flap guidemeans pos tioned over said support and having a pointed portionpositioned centrally of the path of the box as it is moved off of saidconveyor and onto said support, said pointed portion being positionedsufliciently low to be beneath the third and fourth flaps of the box asthe box moves transversely of the conveyor onto said support, saidfurther flap guide means including portions which taper downwardly overthe path of said first and second flaps and which taper downwardly anddiverge outboard of the box and over the path of the third and fourthflaps to open said third and fourth flaps and to maintain open saidfirst and second flaps.

3 The invention of claim 2 wherein said means for pro ecting one of saidarms comprises a frame fixed relative to said conveyor, a connecting rodswingably secured to sald frame, a fluid cylinder pivoted at one end tosaid frame and having a piston rod pivoted to said connecting rod, saidone arm being swingably mounted on said connecting rod, a limit fixed tosaid connecting rod for limitmg downward swinging of said one armrelative to said connecting rod, said fluid cylinder being operable toswing said connecting rod and said one arm upwardly to open the firstflap, spring means connected between said connecting rod and said onearm and normally biasing said one arm against said limit, said fluidcylinder being operable to swing said connecting rod and one armdownwardly to project the one arm into the box, said spring beingresiliently yieldable to permit said one arm to pivot relative to theconnecting rod whereby said one arm can pass over the first flap intothe box.

4. The invention of claim 2 wherein said means for moving the box in apath transversely off the conveyor comprises a fluid cylinder, a pistonrod for said cylinder, a pusher pad mounted on said piston rod andadapted to engage the side of the box to push it onto said support, saidpusher pad having an extension which projects linearly horizontally in adirection partially away from said support and partially opposite to thedirection of movement of boxes on said conveyor, said extension beingoperable when the pusher pad pushes the box back up boxes on saidconveyor and to prevent them from interfering with the opening of thethird and fourth flaps.

5. The invention of claim 3 wherein said first iiap guide comprises ahinge including a pair of legs, one of said legs being secured to saidframe and the other projecting toward the path of the box on said firstconveyor, said other leg being positioned in the path of opening of thefirst flap, adjustable limit means blocking movement of said other legto prevent said first flaps moving back from open position toward aclosed position, spring means biasing said other leg against said limitmeans but resil iently yieldable to permit said first flap to move fromclosed position past said other leg to open position, said first flapguide further comprising a first flap guide rod fixed to said frame andextending downwardly and in the direction of movement of said firstconveyor thence generally horizontally in the direction of movement ofsaid first conveyor, said first flap guide rod being positioned to pickup the guidance of said first flap at a location spaced away from saidhinge and in the direction of movement of said first conveyor.

6. The invention of claim 2 wherein said further fiap guide meanscomprises three rods fixed over the support, in cantilever fashion, eachof said rods having its distal end positioned above the box path as itis moved off of the first conveyor onto said support, guide bars fixedabove said support for engaging the opposite sides of the box andguiding the box as it moves on the support, all three of said rodssloping downwardly from their distal end to their proximal end, one ofsaid three rods extending generally in the box path for maintaining thefirst and second flaps down, a second of said three rods having itsproximal end positioned outboard of said box on one side of said boxwhereby one of said third and fourth flaps is folded outwardly of saidbox by moving onto said support, a third of said three rods having itsproximal end positioned outboard of said box on the other side of saidbox whereby the other of said third and fourth flaps is folded outwardlyof said box by moving onto said support, said second rod having itsproximal end positioned sufiiciently low to overbend said one flap belowthe upper surface of the box.

7. The invention of claim 2 additionally comprising guide elements forsaid box fixed above said first conveyor for guiding boxes on saidconveyor, said guide elements extending in the direction of movement ofboxes on said conveyor, one of said guide elements being adjustable fordifferent sized boxes.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said support is a second conveyor,said first and second conveyors being vertically adjustable for boxes ofdiflferent sizes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,684,799 7/1954 Holstein 53-381X 3,224,166 12/1965 Johns et a1. 53-382 3,241,292 3/1966 Berney 53382TRAVIS S. McGEHEE, Primary Examiner.

